Congress to launch grassroots campaign on paper leaks, ‘chanda chori’

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has resolved to intensify grassroots campaigns on issues of paper leaks and alleged "chanda chori" in Ram temple donations. It also decided that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung at party events.

New Delhi:  The Congress on Wednesday decided to launch countrywide campaigns to take the paper leak and ‘chanda chori’ issues to the grassroots level and resolved that only first two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung at all party events in future.

The decisions were taken at a four-hour-long meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, where the leadership urged its four chief ministers to prepare a report on reforms required in the education and examination system in their respective states.

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The chief ministers have been asked to submit the same to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge within a month.

The CWC passed a resolution at its meeting in which issues of paper leak, ‘chanda chori’ at Ram temple and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into it, ‘failure’ of foreign policy and Chinese ‘incursions’ in Arunachal Pradesh, freezing Lok Sabha seats at 543 for the next 25 years and implementing 33 per cent women reservation on its present strength, besides concerns over E20 implementation were raised.

Besides the Congress president, senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and several top leaders and special invitees besides all four chief minister of Congress-ruled states attended the marathon meeting held in the aftermath of the students agitation on paper leaks and the Ram temple donations row.

The party also termed the just-concluded Parliament session as a “success” for the opposition, as they jointly raised the issues vociferously that caused frequent disruptions.

Reiterating that the party stood with the youth and issues concerning them, the Congress announced that its ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ programme, to address students and raise their issues, will be held in nearly 800 cities across the country, and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will participate in some of them.

The programme has already been held in Kota, Dehradun and Prayagraj and will be held in Pune on Saturday, which will be addressed by Gandhi.

The opposition party also alleged that the government was following a “surrender policy” with “Chinese incursions” taking place in Arunachal Pradesh.

“The Congress Party demands an independent investigation into the matter under the supervision of the Supreme Court, along with a comprehensive audit of all the Trust’s accounts and assets ‘“ including cash and valuables,” the CWC resolution said.

“The CWC is deeply distressed by the plight of our youth…The CWC strongly condemns the arbitrary and brutal repression unleashed by the Modi government against student movements ‘“ including attacks on young women and children, the use of electric shock batons, tear gas, pellet guns and AK-47s, and the blatant censorship of voices of dissent.

“The refusal of the Prime Minister and Home Minister to face Parliament and answer for these serious failures demonstrates not only their cowardice in India’s democratic history, but also their complete indifference and disregard for the future of the country,” it also said.

In his opening remarks, Kharge accused the Modi government of “destroying” the future of students and asserted that the time has come for the Congress to formulate a comprehensive ‘Education-to-Employment Roadmap’ for the youth.

Sources said Rahul Gandhi told the meeting that the government was on the backfoot and the PM was “under pressure” and the time had come for the Congress to take to grassroots and step up its attack on the government.

After the CWC, party general secretary K C Venugopal said the CWC has decided to abide by the 1937 resolution of its highest decision-making body on Vande Mataram and said only two stanzas of the National Song would be sung at all party events henceforth.

“There is no confusion on that…Our stand is very clear that the 1937 resolution decided in which Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel – the top-most leadership of the party at that point of time were present.

“Whatever the decision they took, we have decided that. We are very clear that our Congress party workers will do that only. This is our decision,” he told reporters.

Asked whether only two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung at party events, he said, “Yes, first two stanzas.”

Venugopal said singing of Vande Mataram and the National Anthem is an emotional issue for the Congress, but for the BJP, it is a political matter.

“We are focused on three-four issues. Number one is paper leaks. The agitation done by the people of the country and the way the government dealt with that agitation was discussed. The CWC noted that the Monsoon Session of Parliament was successful for the Opposition and the government was on the back foot,” he said.

“‘Chanda Chori’ is a serious area of concern among people of this country. It is an issue associated with the sentiments of people. Those who used Ram Mandir for polarising people now stand exposed,” he said.

“We will take this issue to the grassroots level. We directed PCCs to take it up at the village and panchayat level,” he said.

Venugopal said the “Chinese incursion” in Arunachal was also discussed, he said.

It was reiterated that the Congress demands that women’s reservation be implemented on the current strength of 543 seats of the Lok Sabha, Venugopal said.

“The CWC further reiterates its commitment to the immediate implementation of women’s reservation. The CWC reinforces its demand that the constitutional freeze on the current strength of the Lok Sabha and its present allocation among the states be extended for the next 25 years, while one-third reservation for women be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections itself,” the resolution said.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who was at the press conference, demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country over the “shudhikaran” in Uttarakhand after Kharge’s programme there.

Kharge also questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the alleged theft of Ram temple donations and demanded that the PM apologise for it and answer to the people.